Disclaimer: All recognisable characters belong to HIT Entertainment. All OCs belong to me.

Chapter 2

About a fortnight later, I arrived for work a little bit earlier than usual. Station Officer Steele was already at his desk when I entered the Control Room to sign on for duty.

"Morning, sir," I greeted him as I signed the duty roster.

"Morning, Sam. I'm glad you're in early, because I have some reports that need processing." And he held out a handful of paper.

I took the reports from him. "Guess I'm in for a quiet morning then."

"Yes. Oh, and some mail arrived for you. I've put it on your desk."

"Thanks."

I left the Control Room and I headed upstairs. I went straight over to my desk at the far end of the Main Room. After I'd placed the pile of reports down on my desk, I looked at my mail. There were a couple of letters, and a small package. Seeing that the package was from Headquarters in Newtown, I decided to open that first.

As soon as I'd opened the package, I knew exactly what it was. Another medal for outstanding bravery. I sighed heavily before tossing the box containing the medal aside. Then, I read the letter that accompanied it.

Penny came over to me. "Morning, Sam."

"Morning, Penny," I replied without looking up from the letter.

Penny picked up the box, and she opened it. She smiled when she saw the medal. "Another medal for outstanding bravery?"

I nodded. "Boyce saw the video of the lorry rescue. He says he 'didn't need Station Officer Steele's recommendation' to help him decide to award it to me."

"Why didn't he come here to award it to you in person?"

I finally made eye contact with Penny. "He says it's because he's had to attend meetings in Aberystwyth this week, so he decided to mail it to me, but I suspect it's because he knows I'd refuse to accept it if he tried to pin it on me."

Elvis brought over a cup of tea for me. He smiled when he saw Penny holding my new medal. "Ooohhh! Is that another medal for outstanding bravery, Sam?"

"Yes, it is," I replied as I put the letter aside.

"And you thoroughly deserve it, Sam," Penny reminded me. She set the medal, still in its box, back down on my desk.

"How many medals do you have now, Sam?"

"This is my second medal for outstanding bravery," I replied matter-of-factly. "I have eight other bravery medals, plus my ten, fifteen, twenty, twenty-five, and thirty-year service medals."

"Wow!" Elvis exclaimed. "I wish I could have that many medals."

"What for?" I asked. "They don't do anything, except gather dust."

"Don't worry, Sam," Penny soothed. She placed her hands on my shoulders. "They'll help jog your memory when you're old and senile."

I shrugged her hands off my shoulders. "Very funny! I don't need medals to remember how successful my career has been. I'll prove it to you. Elvis, do you remember the day when Penny first arrived here?"

"How could I forget? She showed you up right from the start."

I blushed, and Penny giggled.

"Well, I had to prove that I could hold my own against you men," Penny explained.

"Well, you certainly did that right from the start!" I retorted with a small chuckle. "Not to mention Elvis having a huge crush on you."

Penny and Elvis both blushed, which made me laugh.

"Was it really that obvious?" Elvis asked.

"Yes!" Penny and I replied in unison.

"Oh."

"We have had a lot of fun over the years, haven't we?" I asked rhetorically.

"I wouldn't call rescuing you from the sinkhole in my back garden 'fun'," Penny said. "You really frightened all of us that day."

"I frightened myself," I admitted. "I had no idea what was happening. But I'm not the only one who's had to be rescued. Remember how my robot, Bentley, save you from the fire in the appliance bay?"

Penny smiled. "That could've happened to anyone though. By the way, whatever happened to Bentley?

"I had to recycle him for another invention," I admitted. "He wouldn't work nowadays though. He operated off a cassette tape, remember?"

"Oh yes! And Norman replaced it with one that sent him crazy," Elvis added.

"I think that's the first time in the entire history of the fire service that a robot has been awarded with a bravery medal," I said thoughtfully.

"I think you're right, Sam," Penny agreed. "It's a shame you were ordered by Headquarters to stop inventing. Your inventions were much more interesting than Joe's."

"Yeah, well, I was threatened with a disciplinary hearing if my inventions caused another near-disaster in Pontypandy," I explained. "The Chief Fire Officer before Boyce was a bit of an old tyrant. Honestly, I was a bit afraid of him."

"He was the one who almost forced Station Officer Steele into early retirement, wasn't he?" Penny wondered. I nodded.

"That's him. It's a shame the golf bag we bought for Station Officer Steele was destroyed. It was a lovely gift idea."

"Except that Station Officer Steele is rubbish at golf," Penny pointed out. "Hey, do you remember how there was a fire in the kitchen, and Elvis dialled 999?"

Elvis cringed. I chuckled quietly to myself.

"It wasn't that funny," Elvis said.

"Oh, it isn't that," I replied. "I was just thinking about my second Christmas here in the brigade. It was before you arrived, Penny. We were trying to get Trevor's bus out of a snowdrift, and Station Officer Steele became impatient with Elvis' slowness, so he told Elvis to 'put his skates on'."

"What happened?" Penny wondered.

I chuckled again. "Elvis slipped on some black ice, and he went skidding straight into the back of the bus!"

Penny and I burst out laughing. Elvis blushed, before joining in.

"Well, he got his wish!" Elvis added, which made us laugh even harder.

"We sure make a great team together, don't we?" I asked once we'd calmed down somewhat.

"We sure do, Sam," Penny agreed. "We sure do."

…

Just over a week later, the school half-term holidays began, which meant that my colleagues and I were on high alert for any emergencies caused by the kids (and sometimes their parents). Penny and I had just finished a tea break, and we were talking about some up-coming servicing for Phoenix, when we heard the alert tone go off downstairs.

"Brace for impact," I muttered. We were the only firefighters on duty that day, because Elvis, Ellie and Arnold had taken the time off to study for our up-coming test day. The test day was held once every year, to ensure that we were all familiar with any new techniques, and that we hadn't forgotten any of the basics. It was easy to become complacent when it came to following the correct procedures.

The alarms went off, and Station Officer Steele's voice sounded over the loudspeakers. "There is a fire at Joe Sparkes' garage, and the Great Normansky is trapped in a magic booth!"

Penny and I sprinted over to the nearest fireman's pole. Penny followed me down the pole, and we hit the ground running. I pressed the button to open the roller door to appliance bay one, and then I quickly put on my firefighting uniform. Having spent the better part of twenty-five years with Penny by my side, we didn't need to say anything to each other. We just knew what the other was thinking. Since this sounded like a small fire, we'd take Venus, and Penny would drive her. My thoughts were confirmed when Penny cast me a slight nod and a smile.

As soon as we were ready, we ran over to Venus. Penny got into the driver's seat, while I got into the passenger seat. Penny activated Venus' lights and siren before driving away down the driveway.

We arrived at Joe's garage a few minutes later. As I'd guessed, the fire was only a small one, but it was spreading quickly. Penny and I got out of Venus, hitting the ground running. Seeing the Sarah, Mandy, Hannah and Derek standing in the driveway, I went over to them. Mandy held her mobile up in front of her, so I figured that she was recording, again.

"Stand back, everyone!" I ordered, ignoring the mobile. Then, I ran around to the back of Venus.

Penny handed me a fire extinguisher, while she took care of the crowbar. We jogged over to the large wooden box that was burning, and after pulling down my visor, I quickly put the fire out with the extinguisher. As soon as the fire was out, Penny pulled the jammed door open with the crowbar.

Norman emerged, coughing from the smoke. "Ta-da!" he said, before he was overcome with more coughing. Penny gently guided him away from the smoke.

Sighing heavily with disbelief, I went over to Mike and Joe. "What happened here?"

"Sorry, Sam," Joe apologised. "We were trying to do a magical special effect…"

"Eeee…but I'm not so sure we got it quite right," Mike interjected.

"No, I'm not sure you did," I agreed. Behind me, the weakened wooden box collapsed into a pile of smouldering debris. I turned to look at it, shrugging. Well, at least there isn't much left to clear up.

Mandy and Sarah came over to me. Mandy was aiming her mobile phone at me, so she was obviously still filming.

"So, Sam," Sarah began. "How do you feel about being a big, famous internet star now?"

I was confused. "Uh, what?"

"Your big, heroic oil truck rescue has gone viral," Sarah explained.

Whatever that means… "Um… Well, I'm not sure that makes me a star! I was just doing my job."

"Thanks, Sam," Sarah said as Mandy finally stopped filming.

Penny lifted her visor as she approached me. "Don't worry, Sam. These internet things are a flash in the pan." I lifted my visor as well while she was speaking. "It'll blow over in no time."

I frowned thoughtfully. I sure hope she's right…

"Ah, Sam!" Chief Fire Officer Boyce said loudly as he cut into our group. Station Officer Steele was with him. I was rather surprised to see them appear seemingly out of the blue. What's he doing here? "I've just had a call from a big film producer," Boyce continued. "He wants you to be in a movie, playing yourself!"

I couldn't have heard that right. "What!"

"I know! He saw your dramatic oil truck recue on one of those internet clips."

Wait, this is ridiculous! I can't be in a movie! "But, sir!" I protested. "Surely, it would be better if an actor was playing the part."

"Oh, shushushush!" Boyce said in my face, trying to silence my protests. "Nonsense!" He placed a hand on my shoulder. "They want you! And I'll…I mean, we'll…" he indicated to everyone else, "…yes, get to meet lots of famous movie stars, and it'll be marvellous publicity for the Pontypandy Fire Service."

We don't need publicity! I shrugged Boyce's hand off my shoulder. "But, sir!" I said a little more forcefully to try and get my point across. "I'm a firefighter!"

"No, Sam, you're not!" Boyce retorted with equal stubbornness. He pointed sternly at me. "You're Fireman Sam the movie star now! You can go back to being a firefighter once the film is all finished. But not before." And with that, my boss started to walk away, but not before adding a final warning. "Don't let me down."

"Er, I'll try not to, sir," I said despondently in defeat.

Penny came over to me, and she gave me a gentle nudge on my right arm. I flinched.

"What just happened?"

"I think you just lost an argument," Penny teased. "Come on! Don't you want to be in the movie?"

"No, I do not!" I snapped, hopefully loud enough for Boyce to hear me. "I'm a hopeless actor, and you all know that!"

"Why don't you go and sit in Venus while I pack up?"

I hesitated before I decided to follow Penny's advice. As I walked over to Venus, I glared coldly at Sarah and Mandy. This is all their fault! I can't really blame them though. They're just kids.

I sighed heavily as I sat down on Venus' passenger seat. I was tempted to slam the door closed, but I knew that it wouldn't help matters. I'll have another discussion with Boyce later, after I've thought more about this.

Penny joined me inside Venus. "Feeling any better?" she asked after she'd closed the door.

"No…"

"Cheer up. There are worse things in life than being singled out to star in a movie."

"Name one," I muttered as Penny started up Venus. Penny accelerated Venus before she replied.

"How about leaping from a moving vehicle and breaking your arm, which puts you out of action for over two months?"

I cast her a dirty look. "You just HAD to bring that up, didn't you?"

Penny winked. "I know that acting isn't your forte, Sam, but nobody's saying that you have to enjoy it. Just get it over and done with as quickly as possible, so that things can return to normal around here."

I shook my head. "I'm going to discuss it more with Boyce. He can't exactly order me to do something I don't want to do, can he?"

"No, I suppose he can't. Oh, look! There's Boyce and Steele now. It looks like they're about to cross the street."

"Keep going, Penny!" I urged.

Penny raised an eyebrow in surprise, but she didn't slow down. Chief Fire Officer Boyce stepped out onto the road just as we were about to pass. I flicked the siren on. The noisy blast startled both Chief Fire Officer Boyce and Station Officer Steele, making them jump backwards. Chief Fire Officer Boyce tripped on the gutter, and he would've fallen over onto his bottom had Station Officer Steele not caught him.

I laughed as I turned off the siren. "Thanks Penny. I needed that!"

Penny shook her head, but I could see a small smile on her lips. "Sam, one of these days, your pranks are going to go too far."

"What?"

"I said, that one of these days, your pranks are going to go too far."

"What?"

"I said -. Oh, you!"

I clapped my hands and started laughing hysterically. "Gotcha!"

Penny sighed. "Just don't say I didn't warn you."